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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26562499">Stopping and Connecting</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liara_90/pseuds/Liara_90'>Liara_90</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Friendship, Harassment, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, POV Female Character, POV Third Person, Pre-Relationship, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:47:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,129</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26562499</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liara_90/pseuds/Liara_90</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Katara has a nasty encounter on the bus. Suki is there for her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Suki (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stopping and Connecting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>Katara had had a bad day, which had become a bad night, which was turning into a bad nightmare. She’d had a group project worth 30% of her grade due next week, and had spent the better of the afternoon trying to track down her nominal partners before resigning herself to doing all of the work alone. Then her pedagogy prof had run over, causing her to miss her connecting bus, in turn causing her to be late for her evening shift. Six-and-a-half hours of unhelpful coworkers, abusive customers, and demeaning managers later, she’d been shanghaied into working half an hour after she clocked out. She didn’t horribly mind spend a bit of extra time to help out the new employees, but the delay had forced her to wait <em>another</em> half hour for the night bus to the Ba Sing Se University loop.</p><p>And then <em>this asshole</em> had appeared in front of her.</p><p>He was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, decidedly not her type. Well over six feet and with a somewhat uneven buzz cut, designer jeans and a ΦΙΡ frat hoodie. He’d been loudly chewing his gum until he spat it onto the bus floor. And he was, as he’d made unambiguously clear, <em>interested in her</em>.</p><p>She’d already gone through her usual repertoire for deflecting unwanted male attention. Ignoring him, offering one-word answers, making a show of putting her earbuds back in her ears. All the while cursing her bad luck. The bus to BSSU was practically empty - as far as she could tell there was no one except an elderly woman and her shopping trolley, up near the driver. Katara was seated all the way in the back, with no one she could obviously signal to for support, no one whose presence might deter or dissuade the creep.</p><p>And he hadn’t relented. He’d positioned himself directly in front of her, his stance spread, one arm outstretched and holding the pole adjacent to her seat. The way he’d physically imposed himself meant that Katara had no way of leaving her own seat, not unless she wanted to try wriggling under him or crawling over the nearby seats.</p><p>So she went through the next level of deflection techniques. She pretended she had a boyfriend. Pretended she was meeting up with him tonight. When the dude had insisted that he ‘<em>just wanted to hang</em>’ with her, she’d pretended to relent and gave him a fake number.</p><p>Only for him to immediately whip out his phone and call it.</p><p>When the call went to the voicemail of a grocery store Katara had had her first job at, things had gone from bad to <em>much worse</em>. He berated her for lying to him. Called her ungrateful for his attention. Told her to stop looking at her phone. Leaned closer to her.</p><p>Part of Katara wanted to shout, to <em>scream</em>, but another part of her was too paralyzed to move. She was not, by inclination, a fighter. She tried very hard to avoid putting herself in exactly these sorts of situations. And now that she was <em>trapped</em> in one, she felt tears forming in her eyes, which she was praying that he wouldn’t see.</p><p>“Put your phone away. You know it’s rude when someone’s talkin’ to you. I’m tryna be polite but...”</p><p>Even with her eyes closed, Katara felt someone drop into the seat beside her. She desperately hoped that she’d find the strength to <em>fight </em>or <em>run</em> or <em>do something</em>. Her whole body tensed up, bracing for the worst-</p><p>“Hey, are you in my HKin class?”</p><p>Katara’s eyes shot open at the sound of a voice. A young, friendly, feminine voice, coming from directly beside her.</p><p>“...sorry?” was all she was able to squeak out.</p><p>“HKIN 253, with Professor Jianzhu?” the woman asked again, completely ignoring the man looming over the both of them.</p><p>“I… I don’t know what HKin is, sorry,” Katara murmured. She didn’t recognize the woman, and was fairly certain that the woman didn’t recognize <em>her</em>. Her skin color tended to cause her to stand out, even on a campus as diverse as BSSU.</p><p>“<em>Human Kinetics</em>. Kinesiology, basically.”</p><p>Katara shook her head. “I’m in the teacher’s college, actually.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s wonderful,” the woman beamed. “I’m Suki, by the way.”</p><p>Katara dared a glance at Suki. The woman seemed of average height and build, with auburn hair tied up in a short ponytail. She wore a black leather jacket over a light grey hoodie, boyfriend jeans and low-heeled boots. She had a small smile on her face, but her expression was unmistakably serious.</p><p>“Katara.”</p><p>The mention of her name seemed to recapture the creep’s attention.</p><p>“So <em>Katara</em>,” he said, enunciating every syllable, “are you like an Eskimo or something?”</p><p>Suki piped up, not giving Katara a chance to answer. “Hey Katara,” she said, in a tone of voice so clear and forceful that Katara had no choice but to look directly at her. “Are we coming up to your stop?”</p><p>Katara locked eyes at Suki, those deep blues that just <em>radiated </em>confidence. Suki bobbed her head by a small degree, her expression telegraphing the right answer. “Y-yes.”</p><p>“Great.” Suki yanked the pull cord, signaling to the driver their intent to disembark. They were still several stops away from the bus bay at BSSU, but that wasn’t important.</p><p>Katara moved to stand up, but the man in front of her didn’t budge. She teetered uneasily for a few seconds, trying to make some space for herself, but she couldn’t find her balance. Then he pushed her back down.</p><p>“Yo, don’t play games with me,” the man said, dropping whatever thin veneer of affability he’d had before. “I’m being serious.”</p><p>“Hi, excuse me, this is our stop,” Suki said, trying to get the man’s attention. Her tone was friendly, and there was a smile on her face, but something icy underlay both.</p><p>“Kindly <em>fuck off</em> or I’m going to start getting...” he pushed Suki in the shoulder, <em>hard</em>, but she didn’t budge. Only her feet moved, shifting into something even Katara could tell was a stance of some sort. “I’m going to get pissed-” He moved to push her again.</p><p>Suki moved faster than Katara could entirely track. Suki had been standing just far enough away from the man that he’d put himself off-balance when he’d tried to shove her. And in one fluid motion she’d trapped his arm with her hands, and she <em>pulled</em> him forward. She seemed to twist her whole body as she pulled, spinning the man further off-balance as she kicked his legs out from under him, sending them both crashing to the floor.</p><p>The man tried to recover, but Suki still had his arm pinned behind his back, and she was moving her whole body to deny him any leverage. In less than a second, she was positioned, however awkwardly, on top of him, the man’s arm being twisted at an angle that would make a yogi wince.</p><p>“Hey. <em>Hey!</em> Stop moving or I’ll break your arm,” Suki threatened. Katara hadn’t seen exactly how, but Suki now had her knee in the back of the man’s elbow, pressed against an arm which was already perilously hyper-extended. Her tone was oddly calm, not bellicose or menacing, but more like she was stating a fact, describing something she had no choice in.</p><p>The man made a few more feeble attempts to buck her off of him, but Suki continued twisting his arm, and the strain caused him to relent, at least for the moment.</p><p>“Okay. Now, let’s see what you have here…”</p><p>For a bizarre moment, Katara thought that Suki was groping the man’s ass. But then Suki extracted a butterfly knife from his back pocket, causing Katara’s breath to catch in her throat.</p><p>Suki released her grip on the man, no doubt ambivalent about trying to continually grapple with an opponent who had more than twice her mass. She took a few cautious steps towards the back of the bus, flipping open the butterfly knife with an ease that was unquestionably practiced.</p><p>The bus pulled to a stop just as the man pulled himself to his feet. Suki held the knife low, pointing down, but her stance and her expression were unambiguous.</p><p>There was a chime, and the light above the bus’s back door flashed.</p><p>“This is your stop,” Suki stated. Katara marveled at how she managed to sound polite and threatening at the same time.</p><p>The man paused for one long second, as if considering his options. Suki lowered her center of gravity by a few inches. He shot Katara a furious glance. And then he slunk for the door.</p><p>“...<em>bitch</em>.”</p><p>The door closed behind him, and the bus continued rolling. If the driver had noticed their little scuffle in the back, he’d evidently chosen to ignore it.</p><p>Suki exhaled, then closed the knife, slipping it into her jacket. She took a steadying breath, running her hands through her hair, and then seated herself next to Katara.</p><p>“Well, that was unfortunate,” she said dryly, rubbing her brow. “I’m sorry about that.”</p><p>“No, don’t apologize,” Katara replied. “It’s not your fault. You actually saved me.”</p><p>“<em>Saved</em> is a strong word,” Suki replied, with an easy modesty. “I just thought you might need some backup.”</p><p>Katara offered a weak smile. “I did. I don’t normally have problems with random men, but that guy just <em>wouldn’t </em>let up.” Some of the strength returned to her voice, as fear gave way to anger. “Honestly, I spent the past thirty minutes giving him every variation of ‘<em>I’m not interested</em>’ and ‘<em>I have a boyfriend</em>’ and ‘<em>I think you’re a fucking piece of shit that has somehow figured out how to walk</em>’.” Katara suddenly blushed crimson, both hands covering her mouth. “Oops. Sorry for the bad language, that just slipped out.”</p><p>Suki snorted. “Don’t mention it. I just wish I could've been on this bus thirty minutes ago." She leaned back in her seat, the tension seeming to seep from her muscles. “Though it might be worth filing a report with the campus police. That wasn’t just your run-of-the-miller catcaller, and the fact that he was carrying a knife is a little unsettling.” She blew a breath out through her nose. “I don’t know if they can really <em>do</em> anything, but it might put him on their radar. And I’d be happy to back you up.”</p><p>“That’s not a bad idea,” Katara agreed, even if she shared Suki’s ambivalence about anything changing. “I might stop by them tomorrow afternoon.”</p><p>“Well, if you do, feel free to drag me along,” Suki said. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a business card, handing it to Katara. “That’s my work number, so probably don’t use that, but I can get my work <em>email</em> on my phone, so I’ll see if you send anything there.”</p><p>Katara nodded, examining the card. She recognized the logo as belonging to a chain of makeup stores, and the address was for a mall downtown. “You’re a makeup artist?”</p><p>“Well, it’s about 80% a normal retail job, but there’s some artistry in there as well,” Suki replied cheerfully. “I get an absolutely crazy employee discount, too, so just give me a shout if there’s anything you want me to pick up for you. Or drop by and I’d be happy to give you a full face.”</p><p>From another woman, in another tone, that might have come across as an underhanded insult, accompanying a sly insinuation that Katara <em>needed</em> a makeover. But Suki’s tone was entirely straightforward, just a promise of a pampering.</p><p>“That <em>does</em> sound nice,” Katara agreed, taking a close look at Suki’s face for the first time. She noticed the graphic eyeliner, which elongated the curve of Suki’s eyes. Noted the perfectly-blended eyeshadow, and the way her mascara accentuated her lashes. She saw her lips, red and gorgeously flushed. “You’re very pretty.” She paused a beat, her brain catching up to her mouth. “I mean, your make-up is very pretty. Not that…”</p><p>She wrung her hands, trying to disentangle herself from all the insinuations she’d just let slip. And then suddenly she felt a wave of panic cresting over her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean, that came out… oh my god, oh my god-” She gasped for air.</p><p>And then Suki’s hands were holding hers, forcibly stopping her from wringing then. Suki stared into Katara’s eyes, a small smile on her face, even as Katara found herself on the cusp of hyperventilation. “Take a breath.”</p><p>Katara continued shaking for a second. Her breaths were coming in a ragged staccato, tears were streaming down her cheeks.</p><p>“In through the nose, hold it for a few seconds, then out,” Suki coached. She took a deep breath of her own, letting it fill her lungs for several seconds. “And <em>out</em>. Just breathe with me.”</p><p>It took Katara the better part of a minute to regain conscious control of her respiration, but Suki didn’t rush or chide her, just kept breathing in long, steady breaths. Katara was finally able to match Suki’s intake of breath, and found herself surprised at how hard it was to keep from exhaling immediately. But she managed to hold it in until Suki exhaled, even if the tears were still running down her cheeks.</p><p>“You just got out of a dangerous situation, your body is going to be a little overexcited for a minute,” Suki said, without a hint of patronization in her tone. “It’s okay to be a little shaken up by that. We’re just going to ride the adrenaline out, okay?”</p><p>She let go of Katara’s hands, now that they were no longer shaking. Katara tried not to flinch at the loss of contact, but then Suki pulled out a small package of tissues, extracting one.</p><p>“Can I?” Suki asked, and Katara nodded mutely. Suki took a few seconds to dab at Katara’s cheeks and under her eyes, wiping up the moisture. “You have such beautiful brows, I’m sort of jealous,” Suki continued, wiping the inner corner of Katara’s eyes. Katara let out a wet laugh, not so much at Suki’s comment, which she figured was a professional observation as much as anything, but at how relaxed and reassured the small act of kindness had made her feel.</p><p>“Thank you,” said Katara, letting out a long exhale, as if to prove she wasn’t spiraling into panic (anymore). “Not just for that but for… for earlier.”</p><p>Suki shrugged, pocketing the tissue. “Don’t mention it. It’s actually sort of my job.”</p><p>“I thought you worked as a makeup artist?”</p><p>“Oh, that’s just my day job,” Suki replied, with a wave up her hand. “I mean it pays the bill, and I like the work, don’t get me wrong.” She cleared her throat. “But I also teach a women’s self-defense class a few nights a week in the student union building. Sometimes a bit more, depending on what’s happening on the weekends.”</p><p>“I had no idea we had classes like that on-campus,” Katara replied, eyeing Suki in a new light.</p><p>“That’s partially our fault,” Suki explained, just a hint of dejection in her voice. “We don’t really do a lot of… <em>advertising</em>, I guess is the word. I keep meaning to build us up on the socials, but…”</p><p>“You sound like you have your plate pretty full as it is,” finished Katara, pleased that she was able to offer some small amount of consoling in return.</p><p>Suki shrugged, acknowledging Katara’s words if not fully accepting her explanation. “I know. I just always feel like we could be doing better. But, <em>oh</em>-” she reached into her jacket, pulling out an only-slightly-crumpled flyer. “I got these printed at the beginning of the year.”</p><p>KYOSHI WARRIORS<br/>
WOMEN’S SELF-DEFENSE CLASSES<br/>
Student Union Building Room 416<br/>
7-9 PM Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs</p><p>Katara turned over the flyer, and was suddenly faced with a close-up shot of a woman’s face, painted an eerie white, with blood red streaks above her eyes.</p><p>“Is that… you?” Katara asked, comparing the face on the pamphlet with the face on the bus beside her.</p><p>“Yep,” Suki confirmed. “Our classes are based on an old martial art, and we try to keep some of the traditions alive. The original Kyoshi warriors wore this face paint all the time. We only do it for special occasions now, though.” She tilted her head. “Though maybe we should do it more often. It certainly puts you in a different headspace.”</p><p>“It looks… very impressive,” Katara agreed, unsure of how exactly to compliment the look. It was both <em>beautiful</em> and <em>badass</em>, but neither of those words felt sufficient.</p><p>“If you bring one of those with you, your first week of classes are free,” Suki explained, as Katara slipped the flyer into her purse. Suki paused a moment, flashing her palms. “Not that I’m trying to impose on you. There’s no obligation, or anything.”</p><p>Katara nodded. “Maybe I can watch one of the classes?”</p><p>Suki’s eyes widened a little, clearly excited at the expression of interest. “Absolutely. And it really isn’t all about fighting. Actually most of the classes are just a good, general workout. And we try to teach a bit of street-smartness. Keeping up situational awareness, that kind of thing.” Katara smiled at the earnestness with which Suki was trying to make her feel comfortable. </p><p>After a few more minutes of idle small talk, the bus pulled into the bay, and the two women disembarked, with Katara zipping up her jacket as she stepped out into the cold evening air.</p><p>“You live on campus, I’m guessing?” Katara asked.</p><p>Suki nodded, gesturing with her head to a dormitory building a block-and-a-half away. “Yeah, I’m in a suite in the Yokoya Building. You?”</p><p>“Thule House.”</p><p>Suki winced. “Ow, you’re on the wrong side of campus.”</p><p>“Tell me about it,” Katara groaned. “Twenty-minute trek to get to anywhere <em>and</em> we’re right next to the Phi Iota Rho frat house. Sharing a yard with them is a <em>nightmare</em>.”</p><p>“Those guys are the worst,” Suki agreed, sympathetically.</p><p>The two stood still for a few seconds, beneath the harsh white glow of the streetlights. Suki seemed uncharacteristically hesitant, gently rocking on the balls of her feet, her body half-turned away.</p><p>“If-”</p><p>“I hate to ask you this, after you’ve already been such a lifesaver tonight,” Katara interrupted, not <em>quite</em> managing to meet Suki’s eye as the words tumbled out of her mouth. “But would you want to… would you <em>mind</em>… walking me back? I know it’s completely out of your way and it’s almost midnight but I’m just-”</p><p>Katara once again found her hands being held by Suki, felt the calm confidence radiating off of her, and saw the reassuring smile on her lips.</p><p>“I’d love to.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Katara and Suki are probably my two favorite characters in all of <em>Avatar</em>, and it’s a shame that there isn’t more of them together.</p><p>I’ve tried my hand at Modern AUs a few times in the past, and if you’ve read any of them, you might have noticed that I have a tendency to obnoxiously cram as many references to real-world locations, media, and products as I can into them. I took a different tact this time around, trying consciously not to bring “real world” names into this. I’m curious if people have a preference. On the one hand, I kind of like the ability to make things feel more “real”, but on the other hand, you can run the risk of a sort of aesthetic dissonance that feels like bad product placement.</p><p>Random characterization musings – this is my second <em>ATLA</em> fic, both of which featured Suki, and I feel I got a bit better writing her this time around. For Katara, I was aiming a bit more for how she was in Book One versus Book Three. And even if she’s such a strong and caring character, she should still get to be the one being comforted from time to time.</p><p>Feedback of any sort is welcomed, comments are appreciated whenever you find this fic. Your reviews and readership are appreciated.</p><div class="center">
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